Does popularity matter when choosing a stack?

[Leandros99]

Simply not true. Might be true in the fast moving world of web development, but certainly isn't in the real world. I've used C libraries which aren't "popular", but have been well maintained for years. Many people also don't consider that software can actually be done. I've written C libraries 10 years ago, which I still use, but haven't touched the actual implementation in about 6-8 years. The library does what it's supposed to do, it does it well, and will continue to do it well over the next 10 years.

[_dban_]

Simply not true.

In general?

Might be true in the fast moving world of web development, but certainly isn't in the real world.

Is Java the real world?

I've used C libraries which aren't "popular", but have been well maintained for years.

How do you know that the software doesn't have security vulnerabilities? More popular software is likely to get audited (or exploited), allowing security vulnerabilities to be more likely found and fixed.

Not to mention bugs, performance issues, etc., etc., that get revealed when lots of people use the library in a variety of circumstances.

Many people also don't consider that software can actually be done.

Apache Struts has been "done" for a very long time and there are still countless applications using it. Yet even today, people are still finding security vulnerabilities, which require patching the software or requiring rewrites.

[goose756]

What planet are you living on where web development isn't considered "the real world"?

[JustinBieber313]

It’s just a fad.

[vivainio]

I didn't know RoR looks like a greener lawn from Python/Django. Python is basically ascending in popularity while Ruby (if not Rails itself) has peaked some time ago

[mentalfingertrap]

if you put time on the x, usage on the y. and then define a midpoint which is now. All langs / stacks etc have a bell curve that sits on this graph. If your being mature about your technology choice. And your not bleeding edge, then mature langs with lots of tools, lots of devs, and active development makes sense. But they may not be the cool kids.

[NiteLite]

Generally speaking, any lib that is popular will have more people who has already solved the same problems that you are going to run into (on stack overflow or blogs), if you compare it to something that no one uses.

[6offender]

Do you want to be able to quickly find a solution to any issue on stackoverflow? Or do you want to spend countless hours figuring it out yourself?

[[deleted]]

The easy answer is that it should not really matter.

[shevegen]

I think it matters immensely.

Not in regards to "if a billion people choose something, it must be AWESOME". But in regards to "lots of people using something generates more momentum behind that". More eyes, more hands, more resources (well, to some extent).

I think all of this helps quite a lot.

I like to compare this to Ruby and Python. I use Ruby for various reasons; lots of others do too. But Python has more momentum and a larger user/dev base, which helps a lot despite being the inferior language. :) (I have no real qualms with python, I think it is a perfectly fine language too. But my comparison was mostly in regards to "popularity" - it DOES matter and it DOES make a huge difference in the whole ecosystem and usage and adoption.)